


common insomniacs and where to find them

by EzzyDean



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Gen, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 23:50:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15448599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EzzyDean/pseuds/EzzyDean
Summary: The hardest part about catching feelings for a person is taking that step forward and confessing to them.  It's a million times worse when you catch feelings for more than one person.  And a bajillion times worse when you know the other two people have feelings for each other (because why would they want you when they can have each other?)--This is the OiHinaTsukki HP AU you didn't know you needed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this was originally going to be for OiHina week and I couldn't finish it and then I decided to finish it for Oikawa rare pair week so I used a mismatch of prompts from both weeks while writing

“Oh Shouyou.”  

 

Shouyou froze, hand outstretched over a pile of scrolls, and frowned.  He knew that voice. He knew that tone. He knew better than to give in to it.  He wasn’t some gullible little second year anymore and Tooru was not going to talk him into anything too incredibly stupid.  There was always the chance he’d talk Shouyou into something a little stupid. Tooru had a pretty decent silver tongue. For a Hufflepuff.  But Shouyou knew where the line between a little stupid and incredibly stupid was these days.

 

“Oh Shouyou,” Tooru repeated, voice lilting in a dangerous way when he refused to turn around and focused, instead, on what sorts of things he could add to the last few inches of his essay.  “Shouyou,” he repeated, tersely, a third time. Shouyou knew he was on thin ice ignoring Tooru like that. He really shouldn’t let Tooru get to four. But he really needed to finish this essay.  It was his only way out of a detention that would knock him out of practice and he was pretty screwed if he missed practice. 

 

He scribbled a few more lines - something about celestial beings making waves in the human world that he hoped sounded like the right balance of not completely dumb and mild bullshit that was how he wrote almost all of his essays - and managed to spin around and flash a bright smile before Tooru even got the first syllable of his name out for the fourth time.

 

“Good afternoon Tooru,” he practically chirped.

 

Tooru frowned at him for a moment.  Then he decided that getting mad was too much effort and simply dropped into the chair beside Shouyou with a huff.

 

“You are far too chipper for a Slytherin.”  Tooru sniffled dramatically and propped his chin on his hand, studying Shouyou with bright eyes.

 

“And you are far too sneaky for a Hufflepuff.”  Shouyou grinned. “But that’s never stopped us from being what we are.”  

 

Tooru toyed with the scrolls spread around the table while Hinata watched him, waiting for whatever it was that Tooru wanted to spill out of him.  It was a little like watching a cauldron just before it started boiling. You could sometimes see the bubbles lining the bottom of it, one or two slowly rising to pop the surface, and all you had to do was wait just a moment or two for it to be sent into a roiling boil.

 

Hinata knew if he just waited long enough Tooru would boil over on his own with no problem so he turned back to his scrolls and debated opening up his Transfiguration homework.  But then Tooru wiggled in his seat and Shouyou knew it would be pointless. Plus Transfiguration homework always put him to sleep.

 

A cluster of girls at the next table giggled, chatting softly and giving Tooru and Shouyou quick little glances.  Shouyou rolled his eyes. They obviously knew next to nothing about Tooru if they thought the enchanted barrettes and whimsical little scarves they were accessorizing with would be enough to draw his attention for more than a fraction of a second.  Tooru’s eyes barely twitched in that direction before he reached over and flicked a couple scrolls into Shouyou’s lap.

 

Still Shouyou simply waited.  He wasn’t normally one for patience but if it made Tooru squirm and squint at him and shuffle in his seat before he gave in - and therefore was much more likely to not overthink things later - then he could be patient.

 

“I’m bored,” Tooru finally announced.

 

Shouyou groaned softly.  Merlin save him from bored Hufflepuffs.  Last week Makki had declared that he was bored and the next thing Shouyou knew there were fireworks and tea that smelled like Firewhisky and Suga was refusing to talk to anyone about how exactly his tie and vest were shredded to ribbons while he was still wearing them.  He had mentioned once to Tadashi his theory about bored Hufflepuffs being dangerous. Tadashi had snorted softly and said that Hufflepuffs were always dangerous. He had been staring straight at Watari which made Shouyou curious because of all the Hufflepuffs Shouyou knew (and knew of and knew about) Watari had always been the tamest and kindest one.  Two years later he still had yet to discover what sort of dangerous Watari was. 

 

But he knew Tooru’s danger level intimately.  And a bored Tooru usually meant that before too long Shouyou would be tiptoeing along that thin line between ‘totally fun’ and ‘detention for seventeen days’ and hoping that a trip to the hospital wing wouldn’t be required this time.

 

“What am I supposed to do about that?”

 

“Entertain me?”

 

Shouyou carefully shoved all his scrolls and quills and books into his bag, hoping his attempts at charming them would stick this time; he was rather tired of getting scolded for ruined essays and crumpled homework.  He let Tooru lead him away from the library, and from the gaggle of giggling girls that for a moment he was sure were about to follow them, and through the corridors.

 

When Tooru pushed him through the doors and into the crisp afternoon Shouyou realized what he wanted.

 

“I am not breaking into the broom shed for you.  It’s your fault you got your baby confiscated.”

 

Tooru gasped.  “I would never ask you to do something so blatantly against the rules that could get you and or myself into trouble.  What kind of role model would I be if I did that?”

 

Shouyou nodded and hummed.  It was a nice day and even if Tooru was being a little secretive it was still better out here in the fresh air than cooped up in the library.  Homework in the common room was something that was becoming increasingly difficult with Akaashi and Kuroo in the middle of one of their ‘lover’s spats’ that were becoming a weekly occurrence anymore.  Suga said it was because they wanted each other. Shouyou was pretty sure it was because Akaashi replaced Kuroo’s soap with one made of itching powder and stinging nettle because Kuroo made one too many snarky jokes about Akaashi and the plants in Greenhouse #3.  Which probably hadn’t helped the level of jokes about Akaashi and the plants but it seemed to have satisfied some sort of urge in Akaashi because he looked rather smug every time he saw Kuroo so much as twitch the last few days.

 

Tooru stopped dragging Shouyou around once they got out of sight of the main doors and draped his arm around Shouyou’s shoulders instead, slowing down to an easy amble across the grounds.  They were still headed in the general direction of the off limits confiscated broom shed but it was nice out and Tooru’s arm was warm across his shoulders and, for once, he wasn’t a week and a half behind on homework.  All in all it was a good day. 

 

Then he spotted Tsukishima seated on the squat brick fence that lined the path to the shed.  He was a sight for sore eyes. Especially all loose limbed and relaxed looking with his face tilted up to the sun and his robe pulled off and tossed carefully onto the fence next to him.  Everything about him was neat and precise and even with being outside in the sun with no classmates in sight his tie was perfectly knotted and his shirt was tucked in. Shouyou’s eyes darted to the side and took in Tooru’s artfully mussed hair, carefully loosened tie, and strategically rolled up sleeves.  He was suddenly self-conscious about his no doubt dirt stained robes from his hours in Greenhouse #2 that morning and his sleeves haphazardly shoved up around his elbows and his bag covered in patches because he couldn’t for the life of him keep it in one piece and Hitoka was absolutely amazing about patching it up so long as he let her use whatever colorful assortment of patches and threads she had access to that week.  He was a shabby disaster compared to the other two.

 

Shouyou slowed to a halt at the start of the fence and shrugged Tooru’s arm off his shoulder.

 

“I should probably run back to the dungeons and change.  I’ve been in this stuff all day and today was a Greenhouse day.  I know how you hate seeing me wandering around in Greenhouse day robes.”  Tooru frowned at him. Well more like Tooru pouted at him. But Shouyou had plenty of practice with Tooru’s pouts and he simply gave a sunny grin in return.  “And Kindaichi wanted to compare History notes. So, you know, I’m gonna go do that before he decides that half past five is a perfectly acceptable bed time and passes out for the night.”

 

He spun on his heel, eyes skittering over to Tsukishima as the other teen finally noticed them and straightened up, and hurried back towards the castle.  He knew about Tooru’s crush on Tsukishima. He would be surprised if anyone in Slytherin or Hufflepuff  _ didn’t _ know about Tooru’s crush.  The least he could do was to give them some time alone.

 

Shouyou glanced over his shoulder one last time before he slipped into the castle.  He could just barely make out the shapes of Tooru and Tsukishima down by the broom shed and refused to let himself wonder what they were talking about.

 

Their houses knew about Tooru’s giant crush on Tsukishima.  Shouyou could only hope his own crush on Tsukishima was a slightly less well known secret.

  
  
  


Shouyou draped himself against the wall along the Astronomy tower.  It was long after any Astronomy classes had ended and all the other students were tucked away in bed but he wasn’t all that worried about getting caught even with the tower technically being off limits.  It was his spot to think. His one true place for solitude in a castle filled to the brim with other people. He knew exactly how many steps to get from the tower to the dungeons and exactly which shadows he could hide in on the way.  In the silence of a peaceful night he stared up at the stars and wondered, not for the first time in the last few weeks, what he had done in a past life to deserve catching feelings for two of the cleverest, prickliest, most complicated people he’d ever met.


	2. Chapter 2

Round red eyes stared out at him from the bookshelf he had been leaning against and it was only through hours of practice dealing with Ushiwaka’s ridiculous kneazle staring at him that Tooru managed to not yelp in surprise and backpedal across to the next set of shelves.

 

“Kiku,” he hissed quietly.  “Don’t scare me like that.”

 

The red furred fox yawned, tongue curling delicately, and dropped her chin against her paws.  Tooru didn’t even bother wondering exactly how she got on a shelf that was shoulder height. Once upon a time he might have.  Then Hajime brought home Killer Jack and Tooru was never the same. That rabbit… He shivered just remembering all the odd places he had found the thing over the last couple years.  His underwear drawer was the least odd place, sadly enough, and those are just memories he’d rather not have.

  
So he distracted himself by peeking around the corner of the bookshelves once again to see if the object of his attention was still perusing the shelves.

 

Tsukishima was and Tooru sighed.  He could do this. He could talk to him.  He was an Oikawa. He didn’t just sit around and let other people surpass him.  He  _ did _ things.  He spent another two minutes watching Tsukishima flip idly through a couple books before slipping them back onto the shelf and had Kiku not let out a quiet yip practically in his ear that startled him enough to make Tsukishima glance over at the movement he probably would have spent a few more minutes watching him.  He liked the way Tsukishima’s fingers - often wrapped in gauze for reasons that he refused to share with Tooru but Tooru suspected to be either a muggleish fight club or secret Quidditch practice - flipped through pages and the way he rolled his quill idly in his fingers while he was making notes for essays. He liked watching the dawn of realization slip over Tsukishima’s face when he worked on his Runes homework.  He liked how Tsukishima’s lip would curl with the tiniest of movement when Yamaguchi or Yachi would slip sweets across the table and nudge his hand with them.

 

He just liked Tsukishima so much and shit, Tsukishima was still watching him curiously and Kiku let out a soft yippy noise that sounded a little like a laugh and Tooru pushed himself away from the shelf with a grin.

  
He could do this thing.  He could talk to Tsukishima and if not woo him with his wit, he could at least endear himself to the teen a little.  Right?

 

“Oikawa,” Tsukishima said politely when Tooru finally made his way over to him.  “Was there something you needed?”

 

He was going to be suave and sophisticated and swoop in and sweep Tsukishima off his feet.

 

“Can you tell me what kind of card I need to check you out?”

 

That.  That was not suave or sophisticated.  Tsukishima’s eyes widened a little and Tooru swallowed the snitch sized ball of fear that lodged in his throat.  Tsukishima took a step towards him when he pressed his hand to his throat and let out a soft cough. Tooru shook his head and waved Tsukishima back.  Not that he listened.

 

“What was that?”

 

“Are you an overdue book because you have ‘fine’ written all over you.”

 

Tsukishima’s eyebrows jumped into his hairline and his eyes flickered down to his robes.  Tooru was really just going to go drown himself in the Prefect’s bathroom. That was his only choice.  That was the only way to recover from this whole moment. Or maybe he could get someone to Obliviate him.  Hajime was always threatening to do it. Maybe he’d follow through just this once.

 

“Are you?  Are you seriously trying to use muggle pick up lines on me?  What are we, twelve?” 

 

Tooru was bound and determined to never, ever, ever look at Tsukishima’s face ever again and had his eyes trained on the floor.  It was a fascinating floor, really. Much more so than whatever emotions might be flickering across Tsukishima’s face. Then Tsukishima’s shoes inched into his view and Tooru jerked his head up in surprise.  He always managed to forget, conveniently, that Tsukishima was taller than him. It was kind of hard to do in that moment though when Tsukishima was right in his space, inches from his chest, forcing Tooru to tilt his head back to make eye contact.  Which he wasn’t going to do damn it all why was he so weak when it came to Tsukishima? He backed away from Tsukishima, stopping when his back hit the shelves and Kiku hopped onto his shoulder.

 

Tsukishima glanced at his fox and gave a soft flicker of a smile while Tooru desperately looked around section they were in for a suitable distraction.  A random first year or even a particularly nasty or odd colored book. But they were far away from the basic first year requirements and nowhere near deep enough to be in the Restricted Section.  

 

“I, uh, I have to go.”  Tooru rolled Kiku off his shoulder and hurried away from Tsukishima, face flushed with mortification.  He heard Tsukishima mutter something about how people kept running away from him but he was too busy planning the hundreds of ways he could forget that moment ever happened to really listen.

 

He took refuge in the Divination section a few rows away and buried his face in his hands.  He would have let out a scream of frustration if he didn’t actually enjoy spending time in there.  He was already on thin ice with the librarian thanks to his habit of keeping books for months on end when most students kept them a week max (and occasionally forgetting to actually check them out and just walking out with them but that wasn’t really his fault you’d think a  _ magical school _ would have some sort of spell system in place to prevent that sort of thing) and the last thing he wanted was to be kicked out of the library.  Especially since two of his favorite people frequented the place and if he got kicked out he’d miss out out on some of his favorite Shouyou and Tsukishima watching time.

  
  


When Shouyou hurried past a half hour later Tooru had his face studiously shoved into a book so as not to be recognized.  Though he doubted Shouyou would have noticed him even if he hadn’t done it. When Shouyou was focused on something, like really really focused, almost nothing could drag his attention from it.  And at that moment Shouyou was focused on Tsukishima and Tooru peeked over the top of his book so he could watch the chaos unfold.

 

He wasn’t close enough to actually make out what they were saying but Shouyou was making wide gestures and Tsukishima was looking down at him like he was a particularly tricky potion he was trying to figure out and Tooru died a little inside at the contrast between them.  Shouyou was a beam of sunshine in the library, bright and warm and animated, gesturing wildly, and even from a distance Tooru could see the brilliant gleam in his eyes. Tsukishima towered over him all long limbs and cool expressions, shuffling Shouyou deliberately towards a bookshelf, and from his spot Tooru could see the wicked twinkle in his eyes.

 

Tsukishima backed Shouyou into a bookshelf, the same one that he had backed Tooru into, and stared down at him.  Instead of panicking the way Tooru had done Shouyou tilted his head and then leapt up to cling on Tsukishima like a leech.  Shouyou’s arms and legs wrapped around Tsukishima and he nearly fell to the floor in his shock at Shouyou’s action. He looked like he wanted to drop Shouyou to the ground.

 

It wasn’t until he heard the snicker that Tooru realized Yamaguchi, who was seated in a chair just a few feet past Tsukishima, had been watching the whole scene.  Yamaguchi leaned to the side to peer around his best friend and lock eyes with Tooru and at Yamaguchi’s knowing grin he, once again, wished he could just melt away into a puddle of uselessness.


	3. Chapter 3

Daichi froze three steps into the common room.  He didn’t bother shaking his head or scrubbing at his eyes.  Despite not wanting to believe what he was seeing he was entirely sure it was real.  Unfortunately for him. He took a deep breath and sighed loudly. Then he cleared his throat when neither person wrapped up on the couch even twitched.  Then he took another deep breath and tried to channel the absolute disdain for the situation he had heard come from Yahaba’s mouth on more than one occasion.

 

“Why are you two.  In this common room.  Where neither of you technically belong.  With each other’s tongues down your throats.”  He didn’t phrase it like a question. He didn’t really want an answer.  He just wanted his common room to be filled with his housemates. Not some random Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff trying to suck each other’s faces off.

 

Hanamaki broke away from Kageyama’s face long enough to shrug in Daichi’s general direction and answer, “Cause we can?” before diving back in.  Kageyama at least had the decency to blush a little and give Daichi an almost apologetic tilt of his head. But he didn’t make any move to stop Hanamaki.

 

Daichi rolled his eyes and turned right back around.  He didn’t care how they got the password. He didn’t care why they chose here.  He just didn’t feel like trying to do homework a few steps away from the wet sounds of their passionate kisses.

 

So he made his way towards the kitchens and, more importantly, a certain barrel that led the way to his second favorite place in the castle, the first being, naturally, his own bed.

 

He sighed in contentment the moment he got his first deep breath of the Hufflepuff common room.  The golden, honey colored room always set him at ease. He ran his fingers along a nearby cactus, smiling when it dipped into a tiny bow towards him, and carefully maneuvered through the dangling vines that caressed his head and tried to weave crowns through his hair.  Ushijima, seated in a heavily worn armchair in the corner, glanced up from his book and gave Daichi a polite nod. Daichi returned it and paused when Lady Ruby, Ushijima’s kneazle, hopped off the back of the chair and came to sit at his feet. Once Lady Ruby deigned him acceptable she wandered back to Ushijima and Daichi wandered over to the polished bookcase near the dormitory doors and pulled a bottle out from behind a stack of books.

 

Killer Jack, Hajime’s rabbit, hopped across the floor towards him.

 

“Don’t even try to convince me to put it back,” Daichi whispered calmly to the rabbit and it didn’t escape his notice that once upon a time talking logically to a rabbit had seemed odd to him.  “You and I both know he’s got at least three more hidden in this very room.” Killer Jack stared up and him and wriggled his nose.

  
  


A few hours later Daichi had managed to put a decent dent in the bottle and was lounging on one of the patched and incredibly soft couches when Hajime came back.

 

“Why are you in the Hufflepuff common room, by yourself, drinking my firewhisky?”

 

“Cause your friend is in my common room making out with his boyfriend and I don’t feel like seeing it.”

 

Hajime nodded.  “Fair enough.” He scratched at his nose like he was thinking about what to say.  Which was funny to Daichi cause he knew Hajime well enough to know he didn’t have to think about what to say to Daichi.  Because he could say anything to him. They were cool with each other like that. Inter House Unity and all that nice talk they got at the welcome feast every year.  “Tooru is still pining over Tsukishima and Hinata and I don’t want to deal with that.”

 

Daichi beamed up at Hajime and flopped a hand on the couch next to him.  He loved Hajime and his firewhisky and this fluffy as a cloud couch.

 

“Have a seat my friend.”

  
  
  


The best thing about drinking with Hajime, other than the being drunk part, was the fact that Hajime was an excellently soft conversationalist and a brilliantly sharp pillow.  Or maybe it was the other way around. Daichi rubbed his nose against Hajime’s shoulder and laughed at his own thoughts. He never would have imagined, way back when he was an itty bitty ickle first year, that one day he’d be a Gryffindor collapsed in a giggly pile of limbs in the Hufflepuff common room.  But there he was. Hufflepuffs weren’t so bad in the end. He’d decided that a couple years ago. Hufflepuffs were probably his favorite people after his own courageous Gryffindors. But then again the clever Ravenclaws and those sly little Slytherins were too bad either. Hell Daichi kind of loved all of them in their own ways.  Even when Suga was being a shit or Bokuto was being overly enthusiastic about Defense Against the Dark Arts again.

 

He really, really did love them all for the most part.  The houses weren’t good or bad, not really, there were just some shitty people in them sometimes.  He blinked in surprise and opened his mouth to share this brilliant potentially earth shattering discovery with Hajime when a voice rang out.

 

“What’s on the agenda tonight for you two?  Gross slobbery making out before you crawl into a bed with each other?”  Daichi would never be sure if Oikawa was really that loud or if it was just the firewhisky.  He thought it might be the latter because as annoying as he’d always found the other teen he never seemed quite so shrill during classes.

 

“Don’t be mean just cause you’re jealous Oikawa,” Daichi told him.  Or thought he told him. They had emptied most of the bottle in the time since Hajime joined him on the couch.  For all he knew he was talking to the coat rack in the corner and not Oikawa.

 

“Shut your face, Sawamura, I am not jealous.”

 

Oh so he did tell him.  Either that or Oikawa was a mind reader now.  Daichi blinked up at Oikawa’s slightly shimmery form.  Took in the crossed arms and scowl on his face. Then sank into Hajime’s warm shoulder even more.

 

“I get warm cuddles - and this delicious firewhisky,” he rattled the nearly empty bottle in Oikawa’s direction, “and you get to go to your cold, cold bed and be miserable.”  Hajime snorted and wrapped his arm around Daichi. They were sinking deeper onto the couch and pretty soon Daichi would be laying on Hajime. Which was fine. Hajime was a brilliant pillow.

 

“When did Gryffindors get so mean?”

 

“I am being brutally honest.  Not mean. You’re just being a big old big big baby whiner.”

 

Hajime snorted again.  “Daichi, babe, just ignore him.”

 

Oikawa scoffed and waved a hand at them, clearly in A Mood.  Capital letters and all. Daichi rolled his eyes and turned to bury his face in Hajime’s chest.

 

“You two call each other babe and cuddle all the time.  How are you not boyfriends?”

 

“Because,” Hajime explained carefully, “friends can call each other babe and cuddle all they want.”

 

“But… But why you!  Why do you get to do that?  Why not me!”

 

“That,” Daichi said as he pointed in what he thought was Oikawa’s direction.  He paused for a second because he couldn’t remember when he lost the bottle he was pointing with.  “That whining. That’s why not you.”

 

“Mean!” Oikawa pouted.

 

“And that,” Hajime shifted under Daichi’s cheek and, Daichi assumed, waved the bottle at Oikawa, “that is why we drink.”


	4. Chapter 4

The portrait swung shut behind him and Kentarou sighed in relief.  It wasn’t that he didn’t like Herbology. He was actually pretty fond of it.  He wasn’t as fond of the fact that second year Gryffindors shared the class with Slytherins instead of Hufflepuffs like they had for last year.  But even that would have been okay. Akaashi and Kenma were pretty great partners, as far as Slytherins went, and anyone in his year he couldn’t tolerate he could at least ignore.

 

All of that would have been manageable.

 

Except today had been weird because, for no reason that he could figure out on his own or glare out of anyone else, the fourth years from both houses had been there as well.  And if he had thought dealing with the flailing bean pole that was Lev hopped up on two hours of sleep and a potentially questionable potion he had managed to sneak out of class had been a pain?  Well he had a new respect for Slytherins. Because holy damn the duo of Hinata and Yamaguchi was some kind of friendship sent from the depths of hell to torture unsuspecting souls and that scowling brat Kindaichi was just some kind of twisted icing on the cake.

 

At first glance you wouldn’t think that any of those three would be too much trouble, even if they were from Slytherin.  But Kentarou understood about things not being what they appear to be and the power of misconception. There was some quote about judging books and covers that Yahaba liked to blather on about (along with one about pots and kettles and whatever, Kentarou didn’t always listen when Yahaba blathered on) and Kentarou briefly wondered if he should feel a pang of friendship or something.  Outcasts judged on their appearances sticking together and whatnot.

 

He might have even considered actually being a decent role model or whatever and making friends with them.  If Kindaichi hadn’t distracted him with a stupid question - and a stupid smile but none of the jerks he lives with will ever get him to admit that - and left him wide open for whatever pain in the ass potion Hinata “accidentally” spilled all over him that turned him yellow and smelly.  It wasn’t just a slightly off yellow either. Nope. That little shit turned him dandelion buttercup yellow and left him smelling like uncooked meat that’s been sitting out a little too long; all sickly sweet with a touch of rot. Even that might have been tolerable. Had Herbology not been his very first class of the day so he was stuck yellow tinged and off putting all day and none of his professors had let him leave to clean up.  And there was no way he was going to be late to a class and risk detention. At least not for something that wasn’t actually his fault.

 

Despite the fact that all he wanted was to get to his room, shed his stinky clothes, slink off to the bathroom, and then spend the rest of the day asleep under his blankets, he paused halfway across the common room.  A soft giggle reached his ears and he had to look a few times to make sure he was seeing what he was seeing.

 

He turned away from the call of his bed to cautiously cross the warm room and approach the couches scattered on the far side of the room.  Close enough to the fire to be warm but far enough from the main part to be secluded. He felt like it said something about the way the last few years had gone that it wasn’t even all that odd to see a non-Gryffindor there in the tower.

 

“Iwaizumi,” he said in greeting when the two teens noticed him there.  “Daichi.”

 

“Kentarou!”  Daichi giggled again and waved at him.  Then his eyes narrowed at him. “Are you?  Are you bringing bullshit in, into, in here?”

 

“Uh.”  Kentarou looked between them and then glanced around the empty room like it would give him the correct answer.  “No?”

 

Iwaizumi nodded sagely at him pointed at him with a bottle.  “You can join us then,” he said.

 

Before he could protest Daichi latched onto his robe sleeve and yanked him onto the couch between them.  It was a moment of flailing limbs and elbows in his stomach and then a sense of perfection and belonging filled him as he sank into the warmth of the couch and the bodies he was trapped between.

 

Then it was ruined when Iwaizumi let out a pained noise.

 

“You smell like what I imagine a zombie smells like.”  Kentarou looked at Iwaizumi, or as best as he could with Daichi’s arm around his neck pulling him towards Daichi.

 

“You’ve imagined that?”

 

“Yeah.  You haven’t?”

 

“Uh no.”

 

“Well you smell vaguely like spoiled meat so we need to fix that before cuddling can commence.”  

 

Daichi tugged him to the side so he could mutter with Iwaizumi about something that Kentarou couldn’t quite hear.  Then before he could shift or ask what was going on he found himself staring at the business ends of two wands. A few swishes and flicks and the smell of peppermint and lilacs filled his nose for a few cloying seconds and then it was gone.  A quick glance at his hands and he was happy to find them back to their normal color.

 

“You two are so eerily in sync sometimes.  You’re like some weird old married couple. But I’m not gonna complain.  I’ve been trying to get that fixed all day.”

 

“Well it’s fixed.  So now we can commence drunken cuddling.”  Iwaizumi slid his wand back into his sleeve and grabbed a bottle from the floor near his feet.  Kentarou raised a brow when it was offered to him. He wasn’t surprised that they were drinking firewhisky, it was something of a badly kept secret that Daichi and Iwaizumi occasionally got themselves drunk to deal with the epic disaster that was Oikawa’s drama.  Especially lately with Oikawa being all head over heels for whoever he had fallen for. What he was surprised by was that they were offering the bottle to him.

 

“You, uh, realize I’m only like 15 right?”

 

“So?”

 

Kentarou looked between them again, saw their matching smiles, felt the warmth of the three of them squished together on the couch, and shrugged.

 

“Eh okay then.  Why not?”

  
  
  
  


Kentarou had no idea how long he had been here on the couch between Hajime - because he had become Hajime and not just Iwaizumi since Kentarou had been pulled onto the couch - and Daichi but he knew it was warm and pleasant and there was a lot of laughter and at least three-quarters of a bottle of firewhisky gone.  People had started to fill the room since Kentarou had gotten back but they knew well enough to steer clear of Daichi and Hajime on a couch with alcohol. Once upon a time Kentarou knew well enough too. But now he was here in the middle of them laughing at some crude joke Daichi had made when a dark shadow suddenly loomed over them.

 

Kentarou looked up into Yahaba’s disappointed face and started laughing even harder.  Yahaba shook his head and sighed at them, his otter Lucille mimicking the motion.

 

“What would the first years think?”  His scolding voice was just as overbearing and irritating as it had been when he had woken Kentarou up that morning.  If he wasn’t so drunk he’d probably be just as slightly intimidated and annoyed by it as he had almost every other time he heard Yahaba.

 

Daichi and Hajime laughed, voices surrounding Kentarou as Daichi fell over in his lap and stared up at Yahaba, fearless Gryffindor to the end.

 

“Uh.  ‘Damn I wish I had someone to supply me with firewhisky’?”

 

“Not helping Daichi.”

 

Daichi snorted.  “Not caring too much right now Shigeru.”

 

“Do not first name me.”

 

“You started it.”  Daichi pointed up at Yahaba.  Hajime batted at Daichi’s hand because pointing was rude, or something, and wound up holding onto his finger instead.  Daichi grinned at Hajime and reached up and patted Kentarou’s face with his free hand. “Besides I’m nurting anyone.”

 

“I beg your fucking pardon?”

 

Hajime answered, “Uh.  ‘Nurting’? Not hurting.”  Hajime raised an eyebrow at Yahaba and Kentarou wondered when a Hufflepuff got to be so brave as to stand up to Yahaba fucking Shigeru with a tone of voice like that.  “Get it together Yahaba.”

 

“Wow,” Yahaba said.  “Just. Wow.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> inspired by [this post](http://ezzydean.tumblr.com/post/173905682344/kvothbloodless-bumblebeebats-it-baffles-and) over on tumblr

Hitoka stared up, looking for an answer written among the stars of the Ravenclaw common room ceiling.  She didn’t find any, not that she really thought she would. But it was better than giving into the urge to let herself spiral into a pit of despair over Tobio’s pronunciation.

 

“I just don’t get why it’s such a big deal,” Tobio grumbled for what felt like the tenth time since they started nearly an hour and a half ago.

 

“I just.  You have to say it right, Tobio.  Or who knows what might happen.”

 

“I don’t cast the spell.  That’s what happens.” Tobio scowled at the table for a few long seconds and then shut his Transfiguration textbook with a huff.  “Forget it. I’ll just fail and live out my life as a Transfigurationless wizard.”

 

Tobio shoved all his stuff in his bag and it took everything Hitoka had not to offer a simple charm to keep his notes and scrolls uncrumpled - she had tried a few weeks ago and he had been just as frustrated with trying to cast that charm as he was with his actual homework - and let him clomp his way across the common room to the door back to the castle.  He reached out for the handle just as the door swung inside and Hitoka winced in sympathy when he let out a pained noise as the door swung into his outstretched fingers. He glared at Kei, which didn’t seem to even bother the other teen in the slightest, and left.

 

Hitoka shut her own Transfiguration textbook with a soft sigh.

 

“Transfiguration or Charms?”  Kei slid into the seat across from her.

 

“Transfiguration.”

 

He scoffed.  “You’d think that going into fourth year and all he’d be able to pronounce a few simple spells.”  Hitoka frowned at him. “Well he has to learn sometime that passing Magical Creatures and barely passing Herbology isn’t going to get him too far in life.”

 

“Come on, Kei.  Be nice. He’s improved since last year and, honestly, his marks in Herbology are better than yours sometimes.”

 

“Whatever.”  Kei rolled his eyes.

 

“This isn’t just about Tobio is it?  What happened?”

 

“Ugh you wouldn’t believe - or, well, maybe you would - but okay.  How do some people not get it? Like you’d think that Latin or, I dunno, Greek would be classes you could take.  That would make things so much easier. ‘Accio’? Literally, ‘I summon’ and ‘Lumos’? Really? Fucking light!” Hitoka nodded.  She really did understand. Sometimes listening to her classmates grumble and grouch and try to decipher spells gave her such a headache.  “‘Expelliarmus’?”

 

“Expel weapon,” she said softly.

 

“Yes.  Thank you!  Ugh, Merlin.  And then. Just today.  In the library. Amongst the other disasters I encountered.  Some ridiculous little first year. ‘Oooh I wonder what Levicorpus does’  I just – you Dumb Little Shit. You  _ illiterate _ .  It’s called ‘Levicorpus,’” he enunciated each syllable carefully,  “it lifts someone’s body, it  _ levies _ your goddamn  _ corpus _ -”  He let out a frustrated growl and mimed choking someone.  “I don’t know how some of these people manage to put their damn socks on some mornings.”  

 

Hitoka knew that she shouldn’t laugh.  It really wasn’t kind of Kei at all to say those sort of things.  But she understood his frustration completely. Also, and she wouldn’t admit this to anyone even on pain of death or risk of expulsion, she kind of liked seeing the spark in his eyes when he really got wound up about a topic.  It was the same for most of her housemates; there was something exhilarating about seeing her stoic Ravenclaws getting all fired up over things. But Kei was her favorite. Partially because of the swearing and partially because he so rarely let things get to him.

 

Kei forced himself to relax at the sound of her laughter and he even gave her a small smile.  He propped his elbow on the table and shook his head.

 

“Look.  You and I both know that magic is just words,” he said sagely.  “Just finding the right ones to string together with the right intent behind them.”

 

“You really do understand.”  Hitoka sniffled a little. “I could kiss you right now.  You actually understand.”

 

Kei blinked at her in surprise and laughed softly.  “Anyway. The right words and intent and you don’t even need the wand to make it work.”

 

“Wandless magic.”  Hitoka smiled at him.  “Also. Given the right intent and focus you don’t even need the words to be spoken.”

  
  


Neither of them paid much attention as the common room filled with people.  Which was fine because no one coming into the common room really paid them much attention either.  They all knew better than to interrupt anyone in the common room when they were deep in conversation - Ravenclaw or not.  It was heaven, really, to be able to debate like this. To take an idea apart down to its very bones and build something new out of it.  It was something they all knew the joy of and wouldn’t ruin it for anyone else.

 

Which was why when someone joined them at the table when they were in the middle of discussing the possibility that you could make completely new spells just by knowing the Greek and Latin roots of words - they had covered how easily you could alter a spell by mispronouncing one tiny thing hours ago - they simply ignored them while they finished wrapping up.

 

Hitoka leaned back with a content smile.

 

“What I wonder,” Koutarou said when they both finally looked at him, signaling they were done with their private conversation and inviting him in to it.  “Is if changing the accent makes any difference or changes how the spell works. Like a native French speaker versus an English speaker.”

 

Hitoka stared at him in awe, and she knew Kei was as well, and just had to take a minute to process that idea.

 

“You are brilliant,” she said softly.  “Absolutely brilliant.”


	6. Chapter 6

Shouyou brushed off the dirt and grime from his robes with a grimace.  At this rate he figured he should just resign himself to looking like a grubby little chimney gremlin for the remainder of his years at school.  Either that or he needed Tooru to teach him some sort of charm to keep the worst of the dirt and muck off his clothes. He shivered as he passed under the shadowy arch into one of the lesser used courtyards; it would be winter before he knew it and this trek from the greenhouses would be a little miserable.  Maybe he could get one of those new self-warming scarves before the snow flew.

 

A soft caw from the other side of the courtyard caught his attention and he hurried through the shadows to a sunny corner.  Benches lined the low wall that separated the courtyard from the walkway that led into a side entrance not far off of the kitchens.  Asahi smiled when Shouyou flopped onto the bench next to him and moved his sketchbook out of Shouyou’s way with practiced ease.

 

“Hey Asahi.  Hey Moonshine.”  The raven above Asahi’s head cawed at him and then let out a little trilling noise when a second raven landed next to it.  “Oh there you are Finn,” Shouyou said at the second raven’s arrival. “I’ve been looking for you all day.” The second raven looked at him and cawed irritatedly.  “Okay maybe not all day. But for like the last hour at least.” Finn cawed again and Shouyou pulled a handful of berries from his bag. It was the one spell on his bag that he didn’t do himself.  The spell preserving and protecting his pet’s treats was not something he wanted to risk screwing up. Maybe one day he could try it himself. But for now it was easier to have Suga do it for him.

 

“Hi Shouyou,” Asahi finally replied when Finn was busy plucking berries from Shouyou’s fingers.  He’d have juice stains on his hands to clean off later, to go along with all the dirt and everything else but, anymore, what else was new?  “How were the greenhouses?”

 

“Well the second years were replanting Mandrakes today so after they left I helped the Professor take care of the handful that weren’t really done well.  And it got me thinking.” 

 

Asahi chuckled at him but shook his head when Shouyou looked at him curiously. 

 

“The oddest things catch your attention is all.  Go on.”

 

Shouyou grinned and launched into his well rehearsed, extremely thought out if he did say so himself, spiel about Animagi.  Asahi listened patiently and nodded at all the right parts, one of the reasons Shouyou always loved going off on rants and tangents when he talked to Asahi.  In his experience even with the way things were nowadays not all Ravenclaws were so patient and willing to listen to a hyperactive Slytherin’s ramblings.

 

“What I always wondered,” Asahi said when he was sure Shouyou was finished, “was what kind of person looked at a Mandrake and thought ‘Yes I am going to put a leaf from that thing in my mouth for a month and that will definitely be the start of an incredibly complex spell to change into an animal’?”

 

“Really?  What I always wondered was what kind of animal I’d be.”

 

“A chihuahua,” a bored voice said from behind them.   Shouyou tilted his head back into the openings that looked into the hallway.  Tsukishima looked down at him with a smirk.

 

“Tsukishima!  You’re done with detention already?”  Shouyou looked past him towards the door back into the castle.  Tsukishima sat on the low wall and dropped his bag in Shouyou’s lap.  Shouyou yelped in surprise and then carefully dropped the bag next to his own by his feet while Tsukishima stretched his long legs out on the low wall.

 

“I am.  I still can’t believe that I got detention for that.”  He wrinkled his nose and Shouyou couldn’t stop the flutter of warm feelings that filled his belly at the sight.  Not everyone got to see the not so serious side of Tsukishima after all and it took all of Shouyou’s willpower not to climb up onto the ledge with Tsukishima.  He just wanted to curl up in Tsukishima’s lap and it scared him a little how easily he could picture himself doing it. Even right here in the courtyard with Asahi sitting nearby and voices approaching them.  Tsukishima huffed in irritation when Kuroo and Bokuto appeared. “I can’t believe I got detention because of those two. And their dumb duel.”

 

“You have to admit,” Kuroo said with a grin when he heard Tsukishima’s words.  “It was a rather conclusive experiment.”

 

“You each used a different accent when casting and you managed to give Bokuto a sparkly yellow beard before you both started laughing so hard you couldn’t even finish your duel.  How is that conclusive of anything?”

 

“It was conclusive to the fact that we’re both clearly superb wizards.  And that I need to work on my American accent.”

 

Bokuto blinked sadly at Tsukishima.  “You backed us on the fact that it was for research.  You and Hitoka both.” Bokuto glanced around. “Speaking of.  Where is she?”

 

“Knowing her?”  Tsukishima huffed.  “Contemplating her every failure that led her to this point in her life and wondering if this is the start of her career as a criminal who will wind up in Azkaban in approximately two point three years.”

 

“But… it’s just detention?”  Shouyou leaned back to look at Tsukishima and if his head brushed Tsukishima’s leg, well, Tsukishima wasn’t jerking it away in disgust so whatever.  He’d take every small thing Tsukishima let him get away with that he could. “I’m in there all the time?”

 

“You’re also destined to be a chihuahua,” Tsukishima said blandly.

 

Shouyou growled at him.  “I’m gonna be a griffon. There’s no way I’d go through all that effort just to wind up a-”

 

Tsukishima interrupted him with a laugh and nudged Shouyou with his knee.  “Tiny. Yippy. Is loud to make up for his tiny size. Chihuahua.”

 

Kuroo let out a laugh and dropped onto the ground next to Asahi’s feet with Bokuto right beside him.  “Oh come on, Tsukki. He’d be at least, I dunno, an ocelot or something remotely cool.”

 

“Chihuahua,” Tsukishima enunciated, tapping Shouyou with his knee with each syllable.

 

He was about to turn and protest when a tiny shadow shuffled out from the hallway and startled them all.  They would all deny the yelps of surprise they let out if they were ever asked.

 

Hitoka’s eyes looked haunted and the sigh she let out held the weight of the world in it.

 

“I’ve done hard time, boys.  I’ll never be the same.”

 

Tsukishima shook his head at her tone and sat forward, leg dangling from the ledge.  “You helped house elves scrub the corridors. Same as me. That’s not hard time.”

 

Her eyes had an eerie blankness in them that made Shouyou shiver and lean away from her into the hard press of Tsukishima’s leg against his back.  Somehow it made him feel safer.

 

“I’ve seen things on the inside.”

 

“The inside?”  Tsukishima scoffed.  

 

“Um.  You were scrubbing a corridor you walk down twice a week,” Shouyou said softly.

 

“You don’t understand.”

 

“I get detention like every other week,” he protested.  “How do I not understand?”

 

Hitoka gazed dramatically into the distance and they all glanced in the same direction but nothing was there other than the wall.

 

“I think we lost her,” Asahi whispered.

 

They all stared at her for a few seconds before Bokuto suddenly shot to his feet and leaned into her space until they were nose to nose.  She stared right back at him for a few beats until his eyes went wide and he shouted, “Nox!” in an obnoxiously overdone Scottish accent.

 

She held out for five seconds before she burst into giggles and finally slid over the edge of the short wall and let herself fall into Asahi’s lap.


	7. Chapter 7

Tooru still wasn’t sure how he got wrangled into this whole thing.  Or how it was being allowed with Yahaba and Ushiwaka, the most fun sucking Prefects in the history of Prefects, being present.  Or how Mattsun and Makki, because he knows it was them, managed to wrangle so many fifth and sixth years and corral them all down into the dungeons into the Slytherin common room.  Probably with Suga’s help.

 

“Never have I ever had my tongue in Hajime's mouth,” Suga said smugly.

 

Daichi, unsurprisingly, drank.  As did half of Hufflepuff, including Ushijima, which was a little more surprising.

 

“Hey,” Daichi said unashamed, “kisses always feel good. You should know. You've had Yahaba's tongue down your throat most of this week.”  Suga growled at Daichi and Yahaba’s face flushed a bright red that had nothing to do with whatever he was drinking.

 

Tooru rolled his eyes.  With the amount of drinking clearly happening and continuing to happen being surrounded by the cold stones of the dungeons and the cool glass keeping the lake at bay would be a good thing.  The room was getting warm just from the sheer amount of people in it as is. There were a couple fourth year Slytherins perched on the sleek leather couches at the far end of the room, Shouyou and Yamaguchi among them, but the majority of the common room was filled with fifth and sixth years crowded around the low, dark tables and squished onto the deep cushions of the couches they had shoved together.  Tooru dug his sock clad toes into the thick plush of the rug under him and debated which group of his peers would be less troublesome.

 

Makki, Kuroo, Kyoutani, Watari, Asahi and a few others were a tangle of limbs and laughter on one of the sets of couches playing some game with cards and cups and dice and dares that seemed far too complicated for the amount of drinking and laughing they were doing.

 

Suga, Mattsun, Hajime, Daichi, and another group were nearby playing Never Have I Ever which, while he at least understood the rules of, had the potential to completely ruin any sense of privacy and expose secrets he’d rather not have exposed.  Especially when Hajime had that particular gleam in his eyes and Suga was giving Yahaba that look that just dared Yahaba to try challenging him.

 

His decision was made for him when Bokuto came up to one side of him and hooked his arm around Tooru’s elbow and Nishinoya slipped under his other arm and they practically dragged him onto a couch that Tanaka and Tendou had just pulled up across from the one Daichi and Hajime were practically joined at the hip on.

 

It’s not as bad as he imagined it to be.  Even when Tendou stuck his hand in the cushion behind Tooru and gleefully pulled out a small bottle filled to the brim with something pink that sparkled brightly even in the low light of the common room.  A little shiver worked it’s way down Tooru’s spine but he wasn’t sure if it was from the slight dampness of the air - he wasn’t all that accustomed to the dungeons outside of the Potions classroom after all - or if it was because of the wicked grin that Tendou and Suga shared before Suga called out for Hinata to come over for a moment.

 

“Never have I ever had a crush on anyone in this room,” Hajime stated.  The smirk on his face directed it straight at Tooru even though he didn’t look at him.

 

Tooru quickly took a drink of his cup, grimacing a little as the firewhisky burned down his throat, and tried not to watch Hinata hop up and hurry over to Suga’s side with that pleased little smile on his face he always got when he was called on to help someone.  He ignored Mattsun and Nishinoya yelling in protest that it wasn’t a fair question because Hajime didn’t even get crushes on people and tried to listen to whatever Suga was saying to Hinata as he gestured for him to step around the arm of the couch and into the circle of bodies and furniture.  Hinata perched on the arm of the couch and leaned down to hear Suga.

 

If Tooru had looked away from the way the oil lamp on the nearby table flickered lights across Hinata’s soft looking cheeks he might have seen the gleam of pure evil that flashed across Daichi’s face and might have prepared himself to face the wickedness of a Gryffindor.

 

As it was he was too focused on watching Hinata nod at Suga’s words and laugh at the way Suga was gesturing grandly about something to notice anything else.

 

“Never have I ever,” Daichi said in a voice that commanded attention, a voice Tooru didn’t even know the other teen possessed, “had a crush on anyone,” they all turned to stare at Daichi, “of any year, standing or sitting in or on this circle of couches.”

 

It was a dumb statement.  A crush was a crush. Not some epic life changing declaration of devotion.  But he barely noticed Nishinoya, Tendou, and Mattsun taking their required drinks and refusing to meet anyone’s eyes.  Because he was focused on the careful way Hinata was watching him, like he was daring Tooru to take the drink or - because he knew everyone in this circle save for Hinata himself most likely knew about his massive crush on Hinata - to lie, lie and try to deny anything the other’s threw at him.

 

He drank.

 

Hinata gave him a smile.  But there was something not quite right with it.  The brightness of it didn’t quite reach his eyes before he patted Suga on the shoulder and ran off with a cheerful, “Be right back,” tossed over his shoulder.

 

Tooru lost track of things and people when another few turns led to Nishinoya tossing out, “Never have I ever been in the Prefect’s bathroom.”  Which somehow surprised Tooru because if Tanaka had been there, which he apparently had based on the heavy swallow he took, there was no reason his normal partner in crime hadn’t as well.  

 

But he couldn’t question it because a moment later Suga grinned and said, “Never have I ever been naked in the Prefect’s bathroom.”  He caught a flash of Hinata’s bright hair coming through of one of the bedroom doorways but had his attention snapped back to the circle of couches when Suga crowed and pointed at Mattsun.  “Well, well, well. What reason did you have to be in a Prefect’s bathroom, sir, let alone naked in one?”

 

Yahaba and Yukie, the only two in the group who technically had permission to be in the Prefect’s bathrooms, gave each other a look and started laughing when Mattsun shrugged and said, “Plumbing issues.”

 

“There’s story here and I will have it,” Suga demanded.

 

Tooru tried to catch Hinata’s eye when he slipped over and handed Suga a small stack of shot glasses but the other teen refused to look at him.  And then he was gone, back across the dimly lit room and Tooru wished he could have scurried away and joined him and found out just what it was that was making him wear such a confused look.

 

Then Suga and Tendou started pouring shots out of the seemingly neverending bottle of pink sparkles and Tooru ran out of worries for the evening.


	8. Chapter 8

Kei shook his head as Kiku scampered back to him from where she had been lounging in Matsukawa’s lap.  He would never understand how Matsukawa and Hanamaki were always surrounded by animals. None of the pets constantly around them (or on them or in their pockets or hoods) were their own.  They didn’t have any. Yet there was always a mouse or owl or toad or raven or who knew what within reach.

 

“You’re a little traitor,” he said rather pleasantly as the fox hopped up onto his knee and perched there.  He twitched his fingers and sent the small paper airplanes he and Yamaguchi had made flying around their heads lazily.  “What did they bribe you with? Treats? Chin scratches?”

 

Yamaguchi stretched out next to him and laughed.

 

“The way you talk to her.  No one would believe it.”

 

Kei scoffed.  “I can show affection and kindness and all that.  I put up with you don’t I?”

 

Yamaguchi laughed again and prodded Kei’s leg with his foot.  “Is that what you call what you’re doing with those two? Putting up with them?”

 

Kei groaned.  Of course Yamaguchi hadn’t suggested they sprawl down by the lake just to relax after a long week of stupidly stressful homework and tests.  Of course what he really wanted was to grill Kei about the two ridiculous crushes on him and the ridiculous people who had them.

 

“Can you maybe just be an amazing best friend and Obliviate me so I don’t have to think about them?”

 

Yamaguchi laughed again.  “Sorry Tsukki. You know I can’t.”

 

“No.  I know you can.  You just won’t.”

 

“Can’t.  Won’t.” He didn’t even have to look at Yamaguchi to know he was shrugging and waving his hand at Kei.  “Semantics. Like what’s the difference really?”

 

Kei growled and flicked his fingers towards Yamaguchi, sending the paper airplanes flying at Yamaguchi’s face.  Yamaguchi batted them away with a wave of his wand and a flash of glitter.

 

“You know that’s not even funny Tadashi.  Semantics are very important in wizardry.”

 

“Oh.  I’ve been first named.  What’s next? You gonna hex me?”

 

Kei spun in the grass and squinted down at his best friend, Kiku still perched carefully on his knee.

 

“Yachi and I have been working on some potential spell ideas.  We haven’t quite figured out who will be our guinea pig though.”  Kei twirled his wand through his fingers almost lazily. “Would you be interested in helping us out?”

 

Yamaguchi sat up, face pale under all his freckles, and Kei savored the moment of pride he felt at the alarm on Yamaguchi’s face.  It wasn’t everyday that one of his threats actually worried Yamaguchi. Kiku hopped off his knee and hurried away along the edge of the lake.  Off to chase Pixies or sniff out Grindylows or whatever else was flittering around the lake and the edge of the forest.

 

“Anything you and Yachi are working on, I am strictly off limits.  You promised me after the cantaloupe incident.” He shrugged at Yamaguchi’s warning tone.  Yamaguchi squinted at him and then rolled his eyes. “So. About Oikawa and Hinata.”

 

Kei groaned.  “Why do I like them Yamaguchi?  Why? Hinata is an unrepentant disaster wrapped in a blanket made of firelight and good cheer, he’s moderately competent in Herbology and most days that’s about it but Merlin help me I find him entertaining.  And then Oikawa isn’t so much not a disaster as he is a different kind of one. He’s got that smirk and this way of acting like he knows everything when I’m pretty sure he only knows about fifty percent of what he spouts out but I have no way of proving it and for whatever reason I find that fascinating.  What is wrong with me? Am I dying?”

 

Yamaguchi bumped their shoulders together carefully and settled against Kei’s side when he didn’t stiffen up or pull away.  Yamaguchi was one of the few who almost always got away with touching Kei casually. He knew himself well enough to know the fact that he let Hinata do it so readily so often - let him bump into him and sit too close and tap his arm impatiently when they were studying - meant he was in much deeper than he pretended to be with Hinata.

 

“You're not dying,” Yamaguchi said.  “You just like them. There's no logical explanation.”

 

“But I like logic.”

 

“Well you also like my favorite house mate and the person tutoring me in Charms.  So.”

 

“You don’t understand.”

 

“I’ll help you, don’t worry.”  Kei shook his head at Yamaguchi.  “Would you prefer I let you wallow in misery and have nothing be resolved.  Ever?"

 

"A little bit yeah."  Kei hung his head back and looked up at the clouds in the sky.  He wondered if Hinata would be the kind of person who liked watching clouds.  Or maybe Oikawa would. He was always going off on tangents about space and stars and Kei was pretty sure one time he overheard Oikawa arguing with a portrait of Galileo about aliens being dragons that adapted to space and there being such a thing as space flobberworms.  And by ‘pretty sure he overheard’ of course he meant that he totally stood there for over twenty minutes listening to Oikawa ramble and Galileo try to get a word in. Which, regardless what the professor said, was a perfectly reasonable excuse for being over forty minutes late for Arithmancy.  He also may have hung around one day when he overheard Oikawa’s discussion about aliens just being wizards with really really intricate and interestingly designed time-turners. 

 

“Well I’m too good of a friend to let you do that.  Also it scares me a little when you get all soft and mopey.  So I’m helping. I’ll handle it.”

 

“Just remember: if it’s too complicated I want no part in it.”

 

Yamaguchi laughed and used Kei’s shoulder to push himself to his feet.  He straightened out his robes and bag and patted Kei’s shoulder a few times.

 

“Don’t worry,” he said as he cracked his knuckles and started to walk back towards the castle.  “I got this.”

 

Kei let himself panic for the amount of time it took Yamaguchi to make it back to the castle doors.  Then he shrugged and flopped back down into the grass and stared at the clouds again. If nothing else it would be interesting to see what Yamaguchi would come up with.


	9. Chapter 9

Shouyou nestled deeper into the well-aged leather of the armchair nearest the fire and curled himself into as tiny a ball as possible.  It was stupid. This whole crush thing was. He stared at the fire as the soft sounds of the Slytherin common room filled the air. The crackle of fire, the hiss of oil lamps, the all encompassing hum in the background of the lake pressing against the glass.  It was as familiar as his childhood bedroom and twice as comforting.

 

A plush blanket draped over his shoulders and Suga slid onto the chair next to him.  Shouyou let Suga pull him into his lap without a single protest and the moment Suga deemed him in the proper cuddle position Shouyou buried his face against Suga’s neck and whined.

 

“Why am I so stupid Suga?  Why did I have to go and catch feelings for not just one but two giant prickly balls of put together perfection?”

 

Suga snorted softly.  “Catching feelings doesn’t make you stupid.  It might make you do stupid things from time to time.  But we all do stupid things on occasion.”

 

“Like Akaashi and Kuroo?”

 

Suga snorted again.  “Like Akaashi and Kuroo.”

 

Shouyou sighed and tucked his head under Suga’s chin so he could watch the fire.  It made him feel a little better to know that Suga didn’t think he was stupid. But he still felt pretty stupid.

 

“But neither of them even like me.  Why do I have to have unrequired love?”

 

“Unrequited,” Suga corrected automatically.  He hugged Shouyou tight. Before he could say anything else someone settled carefully on the arm of the chair.  Shouyou tilted his head backwards and dropped it onto Tadashi’s knee.

 

“Don’t worry Shouyou.  Your love isn’t nearly as unrequited as you think.”  

 

Shouyou scrunched his face up in confusion.  That sounded promising but Oikawa was far too focused on Tsukishima and whoever else he liked to even look at Shouyou and Tsukishima was forever insulting Shouyou and dropping his bookbag in Shoyou’s lap like he barely registered Shouyou was there.

 

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Suga asked.

 

“For Tsukki, yeah.  I’m not entirely sure about Oikawa.”

 

“Given the way he seems to be driving Daichi and Hajime batty lately I would say it’s a pretty sure thing.”

 

“What are you two talking about?”  Shouyou felt like the conversation was miles over his head, somewhere up among the stars, and he hated when that happened.

 

Tadashi and Suga looked down at him.  For other people seeing the smiles on their faces would be intimidating and a little scary.  For him it was mostly a little concerning because he was used to seeing that kind of look right before something exploded or a potion turned someone yellow or Kuroo started scolding them.

 

“Shouyou.”

 

“Suga.”

 

“Do you trust us?”

 

Shouyou had a long list of people he trusted but a short list of people he truseds unconditionally.  Suga, Tadashi, Yachi, and Asahi were on the short list. Also, for reasons unknown to anyone but Shouyou himself, Tendou was there too.

 

“Of course I do.”

 

“Then just trust us.  Tadashi and I are going to help you with your giant prickly crushes of put together perfection.”

 

—

 

“You want me to what?”

 

Shouyou trusted Suga with his life and he knew that he could just leave Suga alone and things would work out somehow.  But as he was under his covers the night before, staring at the ceiling and listening to Yuutarou’s little nasally breaths as he slept, the gnaw of curiosity about just  _ how _ exactly Suga was going to take care of things set in.  Once it did he knew there was no way he could just sit idly by - not that he ever really sat idly by for anything - and not know what was going on.

 

Which is how he found himself on the floor in the library, back pressed against a bookcase and one of his Herbology text books open on his lap.  He had been through this book cover to cover multiple times so even though he was flipping through the pages without looking he could quote nearly any part of it without hesitation.  The perfect cover for him. He knew Suga’s voice well enough that he could focus on it from across the library if needed. Luckily Suga was just on the other side of the bookcase, tucked into a little alcove with Daichi and Tadashi.

 

“Oh I don’t want you to do anything.  That implies it’s a choice,” Suga said sweetly.  “You’re going to help us.”

 

“Am I?  And what, exactly, is going to compel me to help?”

 

“Your Gryffindor sense of self-righteousness and the chance to get Oikawa to stop whinging about having massive crushes on Shouyou and Tsukishima so that you and Iwaizumi don’t have to ruin your livers so much,” Suga responded.

 

“But we like ruining our livers.”  Shouyou didn’t know Daichi well but he knew him enough to understand that he was basically being stubborn for the sake of being stubborn.  Or maybe just because it was Suga. Shouyou smiled and shook his head when he heard Daichi ‘protesting’ some more. It was probably because it was Suga.

 

Tadashi cleared his throat and Shouyou focused back in on the conversation.

 

“You can still ruin your livers,” Tadashi said.  “Just do it with the intent to irritate Yahaba.”

 

“Oh,” Daichi said slowly, like the thought hadn’t occurred to him.  “Good idea. Okay. I’m in.”

 

Their voices softened until Shouyou realized he would have to crawl through the bookcase to hear the conversation properly and he let his thoughts wander.  The way the others kept talking made it sound like Oikawa and Tsukishima had feelings for each other and maybe, if he was interpreting it correctly, on him too?  But that just didn’t seem right. Why would they like him too? They were perfect for each other. Oikawa was smart and charming and an excellent student. He was diligent and hard working.  Tsukishima was smarter than smart and could be one of the sweetest people if you gave him the chance. He could run circles around you logically and work hard when he wanted something. Shouyou had listened to them talking before and it was like following a conversation in a different language.

 

What would they ever want or need him for when they had each other?


	10. Chapter 10

Looking back, Tooru knew he shouldn’t have trusted Daichi.  He should have just walked far, far away when Daichi approached him with a silly smile on his face.  He should have suspected something fishy when Daichi asked him for help with their Charms homework and suggested that they meet up in one of the rarely used classrooms on the third floor.  (But Hajime had been talking about Daichi’s less than stellar Charms grades and Daichi had one of those trustworthy faces that Tooru just couldn’t say no to so when Daichi had given him a sheepish look and shrugged a little helplessly Tooru said yes.)

 

Regardless of any better instincts he might have he trusted Daichi and he didn’t walk away and he didn’t suspect anything.  So when Daichi opened the door and gestured inside Tooru was completely shocked to see Hinata and Tsukishima both seated at one of the long tables inside.

 

“Um,” he said, all of his wittiness and charming personality on full display.

 

“Daichi,” Hinata whined.  “Will you let us go now?”

 

“Did you talk?” Daichi asked mysteriously.  Or at least it seemed mysterious to Tooru. Who didn’t have a clue what was going on.

 

“Yeah.”

 

Daichi looked at Tooru, then Hinata, and then Tsukishima.

 

“I think you’re lying to me.”  

 

Tsukishima sighed heavily and dropped his head onto the table.  Daichi nudged Tooru a little and Tooru stumbled inside, still a little too stunned at the sight of both of his crushes sitting feet from each other to do anything but follow Daichi.  They were perfect for each other, Hinata and Tsukishima. The cliche dichotomy between sun and moon, night and day, stuffed into human form.

 

Daichi led him to the table and sat him down across from the other two.  The moment his butt hit the seat Tooru knew something was wrong and one wriggle of his hips later he knew exactly what it was.

 

“A sticking charm Daichi?” he hissed.

 

“Sightly modified for my purposes.  But yes.”

 

“I thought you were having troubles with Charms.”

 

“Well I was.  But I think I really got the hang of it this time.”  Daichi grinned at him. Nothing sheepish or silly or even remotely trustworthy on his face.  “You’ll have to test it out for me, yeah?”

 

Tooru scrambled for his wand but Daichi snatched it out of his hand and pulled two more out of the pocket of his robe - Hinata and Tsukishima’s - and waved them playfully in the air.  Then he reached into another pocket of his robe and pulled out a bottle of something that he set onto the table with a heavy thud. It took a moment but Tooru recognized it as one of Hajime’s more expensive bottles of firewhisky.

 

“Here’s the thing,” Daichi said.  He tapped the wands in his hand lightly against the bottle, a quick little one-two-three rap, and sighed softly.  “This was amusing once upon a time, now it’s just sad. As your close friends we have decided that it needs to stop.  And I have been deemed the messenger.” Daichi smiled at them, a big grin that Tooru was more used to seeing on Suga’s face than on Daichi’s, and pointed the wands at the bottle.  “Have a celebration gift on behalf of your friends. And listen up, cause here’s the message: you all like each other. As in you have massive crushes on each other. Feel free to discuss this fact and have a nice day gentlemen.”

 

Daichi tossed the wands onto the table and was out the door before they even hit the surface.

 

They sat in silence, eyes darting between their wands on the table and the bottle in the center of it, and refusing to look at each other.  Finally Tsukishima groaned softly.

 

“This is not what I had in mind when Yamaguchi said he’d handle it,” Tsukishima muttered.  “So what are we going to address first,” he said louder, “the statement or the charm?”

 

“The charm,” Hinata and Tooru said simultaneously.  “I can at least handle the charm,” Tooru added.

  
  
  


It took over eighty minutes, one hundred and three variations of spells, and seven accidental hair color changes for Hinata before Tsukishima and Tooru finally figured out the correct spell to unstick them from their seats.  Hinata frowned and cast the spell to switch his hair back to the right color yet again before he slumped against the table and thumped his head on it.

 

“I want to learn that charm just so I can stick Daichi’s underwear to his forehead for the day,” Hinata grumbled against the tabletop.

 

“I know it’s hard for someone your size.  But think bigger,” Tsukishima replied as he stood and stretched out his back and shoulders.  “We’re sticking his underwear to the doors of the Great Hall.”

 

“While he’s wearing them,” Hinata added, for once, apparently, simply ignoring Tsukishima’s taunt about his height.  He grabbed the bottle of firewhisky on the table and drew it towards himself. He started playing with the label, scraping and picking at the corner of it with his fingernail, while he darted cautious glances between Tsukishima and Tooru.  “So. Um. The statement?”

 

Tsukishima paused with his arms stretched over his head and gave Hinata an appraising look.  Tooru really shouldn’t find the arch of Tsukishima’s eyebrow so fascinating. But he did. Just like he found the way Hinata tilted his head ever so slightly and looked at Tsukishima through his bangs adorable.  And they way they turned, so eerily in sync, and looked at him.

 

“I’ve never really made it a secret that I like you two,” Tsukishima said calmly.  “I was just waiting for you the two of you to figure out what was going on between you and see if I had a place there.”

 

“Of course you’d have a place,” Tooru started at the same time Hinata asked, “Wait you like us?”  Then they both paused and blurted out, “What do you mean between us?”

 

“Yes I like you both,” Tsukishima scoffed.  “Why else would I actually listen to Oikawa prattle on and on about his alien dragon theory or let Hinata constantly push himself into my personal space or the dozens of other things you two do that I would get irritated at pretty much anyone else for doing?”  He dropped his hands in front of himself and clasped them together. “As for having a place. Well. Everyone knows that outside of Iwaizumi for Oikawa and Yachi and Kageyama for Hinata the two of you are the closest people to each other. I just wasn’t sure I’d fit in there.”

 

Tooru was floored.  Of course he knew that he and Shouyou were closer than most, had been since the day Suga had introduced Tooru to Hinata and asked if Tooru would help keep an eye on him.  But he had no idea that anyone saw them as some sort of inseparable duo.

 

He opened his mouth to say as much when Shouyou let out a bitter sounding laugh.

 

“No matter how close we are it isn’t anything like how you two are.  You’re both so smart and know how to get yourself out of anything. Seeing you two work together, like just now, is like watching soulmates clicking together like perfectly cut puzzle shapes.  Listening to you talk to each other sometimes is like trying to follow a conversation in a language I only know enough to know I don’t have a clue what’s going on. You’re perfect for each other and I know you like each other so if anyone doesn’t have a place between the other two it’s me.”

 

To say Tooru was surprised to hear Shouyou talk like that would be an understatement of epic proportions.  He had no idea that Shouyou thought that about them. If anyone was perfect together it was Shouyou and Tsukishima.  Shouyou made Tsukishima laugh and smile and relax in a way that Tooru had never been able to and probably never would.  He wasn’t afraid to push Tsukishima’s buttons just to see what happened. He wasn’t afraid to show Tsukishima just how he felt or challenge him.

 

Tooru said just as much to them and was shocked yet again - there was no way so many shocks in such a short amount of time was healthy for him at all - when Tsukishima reached out and grabbed Shouyou’s hand to drag him around the table to stand in front of Tooru.  Then Tsukishima reached for Tooru’s hand and he stopped counting the number of times he could be shocked in one afternoon as Shouyou’s fingers tangled with his other hand.


	11. Chapter 11

Daichi was sprawled on one of the comfy couches near the fire in the Gryffindor common room, Hajime flopped in the open vee of his legs and using his stomach as a pillow while they talked to Nishinoya and Kyoutani when all hell broke loose.

 

It started with the portrait swinging open and the wild buzzing of hundreds of paper airplanes and cranes flying into the common room and swarming like carnivorous little pixies around anything that breathed.  Next was the hexes that slithered across the floor, beelining to the couches like metal shavings to a magnet. Those rode along the shadows of the vining cacti shooting from the portrait hole and wrapping around every arm and leg - human or inanimate object they didn’t seem to care - that they could reach.

 

Finally there was an explosion that seemed to rock the entire common room as the couch they were under disintegrated into nothing but fluff and feathers and a few wayward springs and splinters.  The papers in the air shredded into nothingness and the cacti disappeared with a soft pop.

 

As the dust settled and the room fell out of that chaos and into the chaos of confusion Daichi spit out a mouthful of feathers.  The tingle of magic on his skin assured him before he could even pull his wand out that this was a spell there was no way he was getting out of anytime soon; he was going to be covered in feathers and fluff for awhile. 

 

Nishinoya coughed and waved the dust out of his face, eying Daichi warily as if he was worried the hexes and jinxes hovering around him and encasing him might become contagious if he got too close.  Daichi sneezed and winced as a cloud of sparkles appeared. His feet suddenly itched inside his shoes and his nose twitched with the urge to sneeze again but he didn’t. Which was almost worse than sneezing had been.

 

Daichi grinned.  He had no idea how long this would all last but it was totally worth it since he knew that this combination attack could only mean one thing: those three had gotten together.  Finally.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to come yell at me over on [tumblr](http://ezzydean.tumblr.com)


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